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| US imposes extra security checks on air passengers from 14 countries |
| 2010-01-04 |
| Foreign passengers flying into the United States from 14 mostly Muslim countries deemed to have links with terrorism are to face extra security checks at airports from today amid increased nervousness in the US after the failed attempt to blow up a passenger jet on Christmas Day. The US transportation security administration announced that everyone flying into the US from or through these countries would go through "enhanced screening" at airports. The list includes Nigeria, home of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the failed suicide bomber who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger plane using an explosive device hidden in his underpants. It also includes Yemen, where it is claimed he was trained. The other "countries of interest" are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, and four countries the US regards as state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. From today US airports have also been instructed to increase "threat-based" screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner. The screening will include full body pat-downs, bag searches, full body scanning and scans by explosive detectors. The introduction of the new measures coincided with a security alert at New Liberty international airport in New Jersey, which was locked down for several hours after a man walked through a security checkpoint without being screened last night. Planes were grounded for six hours and thousands of passengers had to go through security again while the authorities went through CCTV footage in search of the man. He was eventually tracked down. The TSA said the ability to enforce the new security measures was the "result of extraordinary co-operation from our global aviation partners". In a statement it said: "TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the US from anywhere in the world travelling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening." Pakistan International Airlines said it had been applying the new approach to US-bound passengers since Saturday. Yesterday, Gordon Brown confirmed that full body scanners are to be introduced at Britain's airports. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #17 Thanks, Pappy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-04 23:56 |
| #16 Paratrooper. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-01-04 23:14 |
| #15 We are all on the same side, dear Rhodesiafever. But what's a bentleg, or shouldn't I ask? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-04 22:33 |
| #14 Ok, peace, I have a lot of respect for you as well as others, was hoping we all on the same side. |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2010-01-04 21:14 |
| #13 Actually a gentleman tried to recruit me for Rhodesia while I was visiting Kenya in '79; tempting offer (and a worthy cause), but it'd have meant deserting. And if you knew Besoeker's past antics here at the Burg you wouldn't be as quick to condemn. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-01-04 21:06 |
| #12 Pappy, I note you never put Rhodesians on the resumé, thank f#k for that. |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2010-01-04 21:01 |
| #11 Welcome then at your casa I take it? Depends. I have trained and worked with troops from Afghanistan, Iran(shah-era), Turkey, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia, Dubai, Oman, Algeria and the Magic Kingdom. I've also had dealings with business people, academics and just plain folk many of those places as well as Egypt, both here in the States and during several tours in the Mid-East and SE Asia. Some of them may have been terrorists; certainly one was a sympathizer (and dealt with as such). To ban them all because a small percentage are jihadists would be the same as classing all retired-Army psueodo-Afrikaaner bentlegs as ignorant racist twats and treating them accordingly And that wouldn't be 'right', would it? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-01-04 20:52 |
| #10 Mooslim pilots, you mean like Captain Khadr Abdullah, first officer Amr Shaafei from Flash Airlines Flight 604? Might have to ask 139 dead French passengers next time we see them. Also no longer available for comment are Captain Mahmoud El Habashy and First Officer Adel Anwar, and the cruise crew were Captain Amal El Sayed and First Officer Gameel Al-Batouti from EgyptAir Flight 990. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-01-04 14:42 |
| #9 How about Muslims flying the plane? |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2010-01-04 14:21 |
| #8 How about the muslims living in Europe or Australia? |
| Posted by: Paul2 2010-01-04 13:06 |
| #7 Completely wrong approach: they are going after the devices, not the people. I don't mind trying to detect explosive devices and weapons but we won't win that game. The perps are always going to find a way. We need to go after the people. We need to make current intel available to screeners, we need to screen people right there at the gate, and we need to be serious about not just keeping a person off a plane but then jugging and tossing that person. Don't like it? Don't fly. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-01-04 12:49 |
| #6 It should also include what your place of birth is since you could now be a citizen of a Western country. |
| Posted by: hammerhead 2010-01-04 12:18 |
| #5 I would add the UK to that list. Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was from the UK. So it might be commendable that they are finally doing something that makes sense but they still need to take it a step further and profile certain individuals (you know who I mean) no matter where they are from. Anybody who wants to bitch and moan about it can undergo "super enhanced" screening. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-01-04 11:50 |
| #4 Welcome then at your casa I take it? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-01-04 10:06 |
| #3 And exactly WHY do folks from these places need to be coming here in the first place? For mostly the same reasons anyone else from any other country would, I suppose. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-01-04 09:30 |
| #2 I would add the UK to that list. |
| Posted by: Keystone 2010-01-04 08:48 |
| #1 The list...... includes Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. And exactly WHY do folks from these places need to be coming here in the first place? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-01-04 08:31 |